Castle Cove House

The history of the single-family house in Sydney during the last century is a record of changing conditions in regard to our relationship with the landscape.

Castle Cove is a classic Sydney context, landscape and geology - a steep, rocky ravine with tributaries connecting to Sydney Harbour featuring large areas of remnant bushland below which sandstone escarpments define the waterways. The sandstone geology appears at multiple scales from large cliff faces to small ruptures throughout the groundplane.

The house is conceived as a new reverberation across the contours of the site - both a new addition but one which could have equally been revealed in excavation.

The house is built entirely of concrete, embellished in the rear pavilion and in a series of roof cappings qith zinc. The geometry is deliberately indeterminate, working in and around existing stone escarpments as a "third element" that over time and with patination will slip more and more from the new to pre-existing.

The concrete interior is lined with a series of timber elements that enable the occupation of this concrete landscape with a spirit and glamour reminiscent of the California houses from the 50s and 60s by John Lautner and others.

The project is currently under construction and is due for completion in late 2016.